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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/26/2018 in all areas

  1. So all week long I was fantasizing about the new spot I found where I found the 2 deep nickels on bedrock, and after hearing the stories about Prospectors putting a nickel in the ground to replace a nugget I figured I was on to a new hotspot... Well, it was a big bust. The 20 ft of wash I detected was the only part that had anything. Scouting new areas is either hero or zero. It's been zero for me for a while. I gave up on the new spot and decided to hit an old area where we have had some success. I decided to drive in a different way, and hit it from a new direction, to maybe see things from a different perspective. I ended up in a wash where my buddy Dave had pulled a couple out of a year ago. By the time I realized I was in that same wash, I was already digging targets. Maybe the monsoons moved some stuff around, because I know Dave hardly misses a crumb. After I dug my first nugget, a 2g chunk I slowed it down and moved the coil under all the shrubs in the wash. That was where I found the other 2 nuggets. A nice patch of 3. And I prevented another skunk. Tried to take a video of the last dig, not sure if I will post. I like the quartz one. Cheers, Chris
    22 points
  2. What do you guys think about these? I made them initially because it’s what I need but... I’ve got a small batch of Carbon shafts for the Minelab Equinox that are perfect for shortening your detector right up for transport or water type detecting, for a fully collapsed detector you’ll have shave down or melt the small plastic locating pin on the handle clamp to let the inner shaft come in and get the last 100mm of retraction. They look superb, have no wobble or slop and are a lot lighter than the stock shaft (110g vs 186g) Even when fully collapsed and the aluminium clamp Is within the coils proximity it has no effect on detection depth, sensitivity or ID surprisingly. Taking PRE-ORDERS for a discounted price of AUD$75.00 ~USD$54.00 They are very limited so definitely be quick as most are already gone! http://www.detect-Ed.com All comments welcome ? Cheers! Ed
    4 points
  3. Not getting much detecting time in lately.....but managed a few hours at the beach. Found these 5 rings and two silver dimes at the same beach. All the rings were found in the water. The rosie and merc were found around picnic tables. The gold ring is 14K and weighs in at 12.25 grams. The silver ring with the amethyst also has fire opal in it. The three other rings are all 925 silver.
    3 points
  4. I got back out for a couple hrs this morning and verified my NOX 800 settings. I was definitely running with no discrimination in Park 2, with Sens at 23, running in the 5 tone mode. I toggled back and forth on a couple targets with the Gold 2 setting. Park 2 was way better at, for lack of a better term, separation. The Gold 2 audio was really overloaded with the background of "hot rocks/ground noise". The VID in Gold 2 stayed at -8, -9, clear hot rock reading and the target response was very broad. I tried to add some discrimination in Gold 2 to see if I could tame it down. No go. Whereas the Park 2 gave a crisp zip type signal over the target. The VID on undug targets in Park 2 varied from 0 to -5. Once the targets were in the scoop they ranged from 0 to +2. Park 2 eliminated well over 90% of the "hot rock" tones that were killing me in Gold 2. Again, the key was the positive high tone even if it was combined with the low tone growl. Many of these undug targets only gave a high tone in one direction. Once they were uncovered they were generally positive high tone in all directions. Forget about the VID for these tiny pieces of gold. I doubt many prospectors expect to pursue a steady diet of these tiny mico gold nuggets, but it's good to know the NOX can certainly do it. I figure the larger gold with take care of itself, I just need to get the coil over some. We've absolutely hammered this little spot with the Z7000, so most of the bigger gold is already in the poke somewhere. The NOX 6" coil absolutely rocks on tiny gold!
    3 points
  5. Hi Folks I had a great hunt at the beginning of September with the Equinox. At this site I discovered a nice handful of Native American Kettle Points, Jesuit missionary rings and a tinkler cone or two along with some later 1700's artifacts. One of the rings was an L Heart ring which was worn by the missionary, while the other ring was one that they gave to the Native Americans. Overall a great hunt that will be hard for me to top. I can't wait to get back and try for more. HH
    2 points
  6. I've tried hunting in 50 tone but there's just too much information coming through for my brain to process. However, hunting in 5 tones and then switching to 50 tones when I want to check out a target would probably work well for me. I wish the user profile button were easier to access, though.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy An alloy is a combination of metals or of a metal and another element. Alloys are defined by a metallic bonding character.[1] An alloy may be a solid solution of metal elements (a single phase) or a mixture of metallic phases (two or more solutions). Unfortunately I've seen confusion occasionally as to what an alloy actually is. My simpler explanation than above is that alloys are metals which are mixed and uniformly distributed at the atomic level. For example, US coin silver is 90% silver and 10% copper but the atoms of silver and copper are intermixed at the submicroscopic level. Now what about a US clad coin? That is a sandwich of a copper core and two outer layers of alloyed copper+nickel (same alloy as is used in US 5 cent coins). It's not an alloy per se, but rather a macroscopic combination of two metals. The European coins which have an inner disc surrounded by an outer ring are another example of a mixed metal object which isn't an alloy. Let's say you have a steel (an alloy, BTW) screw with a brass (another alloy) washer and a stainless steel (yet another alloy) nut all fastened together. The Equinox is capable of giving you signals for all three -- steel, brass, stainless -- when they are all connected together. But if you have a silver coin it won't give you separate TID's for the copper part and the silver part of the alloy, but rather a single ID for that particular alloy. (Of course we shouldn't forget that size also plays a roll in the TID, so a US silver quarter which is the exact same composition as the silver dime has a different TID.) The bottom line is that the separation capabilities of the Eqx can sometimes distinguish different metals which are close to each other at the macroscopic level but not at the microscopic level (true alloy). One last point which is interesting and which all US coin hunters are aware of: clad coins only give a single TID (for its size). Even more puzzling (to me) is that it's the copper core which gives the TID, or at least the signal is consistent with that. On the Eqx a US 'nickel' 5 cent (75% copper, 25% nickel) has a TID of 12-13. The smaller clad dime (copper core, nickel outer layers with same composition as the US nickel) gives a TID around 26. A US memorial penny pre-1982 (alloy of 95% copper, 5% zinc), which is slightly larger than the dime reads almost the same as the dime -- TID around 25-26. So the detector appears to ignore the outer nickel-alloy layers of the clad dime and give a TID consistent with just the copper core. (Likely what is going on is more complicated than what I just described.) I've never found a European bi-metallic coin but from what I've read here it apparently also gives only a single TID (analogous to our US clad coins) as opposed to multiple TID's similar to the above example of screw+washer+nut. So maybe the actual geometry matters?
    2 points
  7. In determining if it's an iron false or a non-ferrous co-locate target the Nox has pushed this ability to new limits. I have seen even broader spreads in the TID, going as high as the mid 30's up averaging, usually on deeper targets and down averaging of coins and coin size non-ferrous.
    2 points
  8. I've seen iron wrap-around hit high digits on my EQ800. Matter of fact, at a very old site (for here) I was getting deep bits of iron wire (bailing wire) and some old hand forged nails that were producing a high tone and TID #. After digging a few of these disappointing finds, I got a beautiful signal. well OK, it actually sounded like the deep iron, and it turned out to be an 1838 seated dime!
    2 points
  9. Hi All, I've been loaned a 12 x 8 Evo coil to compare with my 12" Evo round. I placed 2 pieces of gold in the ground, an 0.6gm nugget at 6" deep and an 0.04gm piece at nearly 3" deep , both targets I could hear with the 12" round. With the 12 x 8 I could hear a very faint signal on the 0.04gm piece. The o.6gm piece I could not hear a peep out of it with the 12 x 8. So I did not buy the 12 x 8. I must say that the 12 x 8 was not the latest production model, it was a prototype model coil, this was done with my GPX 5000 in fine gold in VIctoria, Australia. Cheers, Hermann.
    2 points
  10. I have put up a page to collect new information on the XP Orx as it appears.
    1 point
  11. When I saw a video showing the Makro Gold Racer recovery speed using two nails and a gold ring, it caused me to reflect on the various internet nail tests. Nearly all employ modern round nails, when these items rarely present issues. The common VDI (visual discrimination scale) puts ferrous items at the low end of the scale, and items with progressively increasing conductivity higher on the scale. The problem is the size of items also matters. Small gold is low on the scale, and the larger the gold, the higher it reads on the scale. A silver quarter reads higher than a silver dime, etc. All manner of ferrous trash including medium and smaller nails fall where they should when using discrimination and are easily tuned out. The problem is large iron and steel items, and ferrous but non-magnetic materials like stainless steel. Steel plates, large bolts, broken large square nails, axe heads, hammer heads, broken pry bar and pick tips, etc. all tend to read as high conductive targets. Usually it is just the sheer size pushing it higher up the scale. Detectors also love things with holes, which makes for a perfect target by enabling and enhancing near perfect eddy currents, making items appear larger than they really are. Steel washers and nuts are a big problem in this regard, often reading as non-ferrous targets. Oddball shapes cause problems, particularly in flat sheet steel. Old rusted cans often separate into irregular shaped flat pieces, and roofing tin (plated steel) and other sheet steel items are my number one nemesis around old camp sites. Bottle caps present a similar issue in modern areas. These items produce complex "sparky" eddy currents with both ferrous and non-ferrous indications. Many thin flat steel items produce remarkably good gold nugget type signals in old camp areas. Two general tips. Concentric coils often handle ferrous trash better than DD coils. A DD coil is often the culprit when dealing with bottle caps where a concentric coil often makes them easy to identify. Another thing is to use full tones. Many ferrous items are producing both ferrous and non-ferrous tones. Blocking ferrous tones allows only the non-ferrous tone to be heard, giving a clear "dig me" signal. This was the real bane of single tone machines with a simple disc knob to eliminate ferrous objects. You still heard the non-ferrous portion of the signal. Multi tones allows you to hear the dual ferrous/non-ferrous reports from these troublesome items, helping eliminate most of them. Certain detectors can also show multiple target responses on screen at once, like the White's models featuring the SignaGraph (XLT, DFX, etc.) and CTX with target trace. These displays show target "smearing" that stands out differently from the clean VDI responses produced by most good items. A machine with a simple VDI numeric readout can only show you one number at a time and the only indication you might get is "dancing" numbers that refuse to lock on. Usually though the predominate response overrides and fakes you out. This is where a good high end visual display capable of putting all VDI response on screen simultaneously can really help out. the bottom line is there is not a clear line between ferrous and non-ferrous, but an overlap. Many detectors offer a variable control to deal with this - the iron bias setting. Higher settings eliminate more ferrous, but also runs more risk of missing the desired non-ferrous. Conversely, lower settings reduce the risk of missing desired targets, but you dig more trash. I have been collecting these odd iron and steel items to practice with and to help me evaluate which machines might do best in ferrous trash. The main thing I wanted to note here is contrived internet videos with common round nails often present a misleading picture. Many machines do very well on nails yet fail miserably on flat steel. Steel Trash Testing Tech explanation from Laurence Stamatescu at Minelab:
    1 point
  12. Once upon a time all metal detectors went beep, and you dug up a metal object. Then a simple form of discrimination was developed based roughly on the conductivity scale. The main feature of this scale is that ferrous (iron or steel) items read lower on the scale than non-ferrous items. In a perfect world all ferrous readings could be set as a negative number, and all non-ferrous items set as a positive number. The reality is not so perfect however. Some steel items, especially items with a hole like a steel washer, will read up in the middle or high end of the scale, and show up right where only non-ferrous readings should appear. Thin sheet steel (bottle caps, flat section of rusted cans or roofing material) can show up in the mid range, and hardened steel items like bolts or ax heads can read way up in the silver range. These types of targets can trouble coin hunters in particular. Gold reads much lower on the discrimination scale normally due to a fairly low conductivity for gold. The gold range overlaps entirely with the lead and aluminum ranges, and these items are arranged on the scale based more on size than anything. Small gold, aluminum, and lead reads very low, and larger gold, aluminum, and lead tends to read in the low to middle portion of the scale. Those who chase these low end targets run into another problem with ferrous. Very small gold, lead, aluminum, and other small non-ferrous low conductors actually overlap with small ferrous items and so the clean ferrous to non-ferrous "breakpoint" does not actually exist,. The breakpoint is more of a "breakzone" i.e. a fuzzy zone where items overlap. The ground itself contains ferrous materials in the form of iron minerals. Ground minerals can act to confuse the detector further, enhancing the chance that a small non-ferrous reading will be interpreted as ferrous. Another way to say that is that in highly mineralized ground the overlap between ferrous and non-ferrous targets gets larger. The ground mineralization is critical to how this all works and so air testing is not recommended for testing the ferrous/non-ferrous overlap region on any particular detector. Note that this does not apply just to very small items. The deeper an item is, the smaller it appears to a detector. In other words a deep large item can sound just like a shallow small item. When you bury items of any size in highly iron mineralized ground, the deeper they are, the more chance the ground mineral signal will overlap and cause the item to read as ferrous right at the edge of detection range. Fisher F75 metal detector The early model discrimination detectors usually had a knob that adjusted all the discrimination. Everything below the knob setting was ignored, and everything above the setting accepted. The discrimination pioneers rapidly discovered that the dividing line between ferrous and non-ferrous is "fuzzy". The knobs could be set to reject nearly all ferrous readings, but then some good non-ferrous targets would get missed. The solution was to use a little bit lower discrimination setting, which meant more ferrous trash was dug, but more non-ferrous items were revealed. Managing the ferrous to non-ferrous breakpoint is critical. There is no setting that rejects all ferrous while detecting all non-ferrous, and the more mineralized the ground is, the less reliable the settings become. As a rule of thumb, the more aggressive the iron rejection, the more chance of non-ferrous items being misidentified. Detector technology advanced, and tone schemes were developed that divide the discrimination scale up into segments or "bins" where all numbers within a specific range make a specific tone. These tone schemes are often preset at the factory. The ranges can be arbitrary and arranged in many ways, but all share one common factor. Where is the setting that divides low ferrous tones from the higher non-ferrous tones? This is the "ferrous breakpoint". Everything below this point will give a "ferrous tone" and everything higher a "non-ferrous tone". The detector engineers are well aware of the overlap between ferrous and non-ferrous items. In choosing one setting to define what is in reality a zone the engineers have to make a hard choice. If the setting is too low, the operator will get many non-ferrous readings that turn out to be ferrous. That really irritates people. Or they can set the breakpoint higher. That way less ferrous gets dug. Some good non-ferrous items will also be missed, but only in the rarest cases does anyone ever know what they are missing. The odds are there will be more complaints if the ferrous breakpoint is too low than too high. The goal is not to find every non-ferrous item, but to keep from digging too much trash identified as good. This diagram is shows the common discrimination range employed in nearly all metal detectors. This particular model (Garrett) sets 40 as the point where ferrous items separate from non-ferrous items. Yet the chart reveals the overlap zone runs from about 35 to 45, a solid ten point spread. Small gold can identify as ferrous, especially in iron mineralized ground. Many detectors identify this zone on the meter via overlapping diagonal lines. The ferrous/non-ferrous overlap region What this means is that any detector that employs a preset tone scheme with no ability to adjust the "ferrous tone breakpoint" is assured to be missing at least some items due to an overly aggressive setting dialed in at the factory. This was eventually recognized, and now quite a few detectors allow the point where ferrous tones flip to non-ferrous tones to be adjusted. Some models are now even allowing for multiple volume controls for each separate tone, are at least the ferrous tone. This is most often called a "ferrous volume" setting. The Fisher F75 is an earlier tone based model and as such the tone schemes are preset at the factory. You can choose between the schemes, but the tone settings of where the tones occur cannot be adjusted. The F75 employs a target id scale that ranges from 1 to 99 with the 0 - 15 range defined as ferrous. From the F75 Users Manual page 20: 1. 1-7 iron 2. 8-15 iron 3. 16-20 foil 4. 21-25 foil 5. 26-30 nickel 6. 31-35 nickel 7. 36-45 tab 8. 46-55 tab 9. 56-60 zinc 10. 61-65 zinc and from page 25: F75 OBJECT AND TARGET I.D. Most iron objects 4-12 foil from gum wrapper 16-25 U.S. nickel (5¢ coin) typically 30 aluminum pull-tab 33-55 aluminum screw cap 60 - 70 zinc penny (dated after 1982) typically 60 aluminum soda pop can most often 63-69, but can vary widely copper penny, clad dime typically 70 U.S. quarter (25¢ coin), clad typically 80 50¢ coin, modern clad typically 86 old silver dollar coin typically 90 US silver Eagle $1 coin typically 91 The implication is that non-ferrous items will only read 16 and above. Any readings of 15 and lower are deemed ferrous. The F75 has several preset tone schemes, the basics being monotone, two tone, three tone, four tone, and Delta Pitch (separate tone for each target id number i.e. multitone). The quirk is simple. The two, three, and four tone schemes all have a non-adjustable factory preset low tone for ferrous at 15 and below. The tone schemes override any other discriminations settings. In other words, if you have manually set the discrimination for ferrous to be a lower setting, switching to any two, three, or four tone scheme will automatically change the low tone setting to be at 15 and lower. The problem is that with time it was revealed that the F75 will detect some non-ferrous items at much lower settings than 16. Tom Dankowski finally put it all together and determined that a reading of 7 or higher would reveal additional non-ferrous items that are rejected when the setting is at 15. Tom's recommendation for the F75 while hunting ferrous is therefore to not use the tones, but to use the monotone setting and adjust the discrimination manually to 6. That way items 7 and higher signal as a non-ferrous target instead of delivering a low ferrous tone via the tone schemes. Again, going to a tone setting will automatically override a manual discrimination setting if one has been set. Tom wrote this all up as a great article in the 2009 Fisher Labs World Treasure News on page 11. I actually had the chance to see this in person in my own use of the F75. Early on I trusted the tone settings and two tone is quite handy for those simply wanting to dig all non-ferrous. Yet on my trip to England with the F75 I encountered a mystery. A gold coin was found and another F75 newbie was telling me about how he tested it with his F75 and it gave a nice ferrous tone. He was quite upset and worried his detector was defective. He did not have the coin however and so I could not see what he was describing and at the time I have to admit I was clueless. I know now that he was using tones, and that the gold coin was reading lower than 16 and so being identified as ferrous! My early use of the F75 was more for gold nuggets, and I usually used all metal mode. Yet my favorite feature on the F75 was full time target id while in all metal mode. My method was to acquire all targets, then dig any that flickered even once above my mental ferrous breakpoint. Unfortunately I leaned too much on the user manual initially and tended to pass on targets reading under 16. My early writing on the subject reflected that. After I discovered on my own that gold was reading lower I started adjusting my mental settings lower. Then I bumped into Tom's writing on the subject and it all came together. The bottom line in that non-ferrous items can read as low as 7 on the F75 yet the ferrous tone break is set at 15. This is just fine for most Park coin detecting, but problematic for those hunting low conductors of any sort or coins in dense ferrous. Either use monotone and decide where you want the setting to be (6 as Tom recommends or maybe somewhere in between 6 and 15 if 6 has you digging too much trash) or hunt in all metal and use the target id numbers to decide when to dig keeping in mind non-ferrous can read lower than 16, especially in high mineral ground. This is not a flaw in the F75 but just a function of any detector using a preset tone scheme. There are many detectors like this on the market. They tend to be less expensive models, or older models, as most new detectors now feature an adjustable tone break for the ferrous/non-ferrous overlap zone. Another take on the subject. And down the rabbit hole - Tune Out Nails - You Will Miss Gold! Fisher F75 Information Page
    1 point
  13. Temps here in Sunny Yuma are still unbearable, but I got out for a few hrs early this AM to play with the Equinox 800 and 6" coil. I went back to the same spot as last week, an area of relatively flat drywash tailings. I poked around for half Hr in the Gold II setting but the hot rocks were becoming quite tedious. Even if you apply some discrimination, they blow through the filter with a choppy broken tone. I remembered that our skilled Moderator has said, many months ago, that he was quite confident in finding small gold in the Park II mode. I thought I'd give it a try figuring the hot rocks would come in the low tone and gold would pop through in the higher tones. I picked a spot of choppy hot ground and put down my 1/4 gram test nugget. It zipped through with a nice high tone and the choppy hot ground more or less disappeared. I ran the Sens up to 23, no discrimination, everything else factory preset in Park II. It was truly amazing, the hot rock tones were gone. Park II also runs with no threshold so the machine was nearly dead silent. I went back over the ground I had just covered and started popping these tiny bits of gold. Half of them came out of boot scrapes I had left last week. I did not rely on the VID numbers, just the tone. If the machine grunted a low tone but fluttered a high tone I dug. I pulled up some tiny pieces of rusted steel and wire, but enough of those targets turned into gold to keep me digging. I watched the VID numbers on a couple targets. They started out negative VID -7, -8, but when uncovered popped 0 or +1, all the while with a high tone. As we discussed on the last thread, VID numbers for gold vary, but now it's clear that relying on VID is going to miss gold. The tones were certainly more reliable than VID in this situation. And clearly, Park II is plenty sensitive to small gold. These 10 pieces combined would not register on my scale. I used a sewing needle for scale, they are that tiny. I suspect that the hot rocks were screened out by the "iron bias" filter, perhaps Steve can shed more light on that aspect. This machine is really starting to impress me.
    1 point
  14. Steve, I wish I could say I’ve tried the ML ones to say how they compare but I can’t. I can say that they are a lot louder especially while under water than the Hungarians and that show in newer scuba footage I’ve got on the GoPro as I can now hear the detector in the recording. ? Also the Hungarians have some kind of harmonic bias toward a couple tones making them louder BUT only above water, the new ones I can use in 50 tones underwater very happily.
    1 point
  15. I'm still baffled on how this Park 2 filters the hot rocks and hot ground so much better than Gold 2. I believe this machine could be set up for a rank amateur, wife, girlfriend, kid who want to try detector prospecting but will burn out quick if they spend too much time chasing hot rocks and hot ground. Set this thing in Park 2, Sens 20 and dig anything that gives a high tone and a VID under +12. All my bigger test nuggets come in at +8 to +10.
    1 point
  16. 1 point
  17. No, New York... But, you may find this interesting..... yes, my host is very kind to share his sites with me. A while back near where I live I found a 3500 to 6000 year old copper adze that my state archaeologists believed may have originated in the Great Lakes Region since there are natural copper deposits in that area... Truly one of my best finds ever.. They are tough to discover here in New York... I will include the email he sent me back. He is the Curator of Archaeology at our state museum.. "Thanks for your email. Judging from your photographs, yes, this doesappear to be a copper adz (and a very handsome one at that) – this issuggested by the expanding shape in plan view, the asymmetric side viewprofile, and the concave surface on one face.Such copper adzes and gouges are relatively common in much of the GreatLakes, especially Wisconsin, where they date roughly to between 4000 and1500 BC (6000 and 3500 years ago). There, they are viewed as onediagnostic of the so-called "Old Copper Culture," a Native Americanlifeway that included the mining of copper that occurs naturally inparts of the Great Lakes, in the manufacture of these tools.In the New York region, these copper artifacts are less common but arediscovered occasionally. Parallel-sided gouges have been found inassociation with Brewerton notched points, dating to circa 3000-1500 BC. Copper adzes similar in form to yours have been found in the Champlainbasin – their age is uncertain but may be from roughly the sametimeframe. Because there are natural sources of copper in parts of theGreat Lakes, but not New York, archaeologists believe these artifactsprobably came into the region by some form of trade or exchange fromother Great Lakes groups. This interpretation is generally supported bychemical sourcing methods that compare geologic sources of this materialwith artifacts made of copper."
    1 point
  18. Steve,some tremendous information,think i will stay with my Coiltek,its the only coil that really suits my sites,as the coil is foam filled it really is ultra lightweight,as i dont use it everyday i even use it without the coil cover on like all my coils and suprising how heavy a cover can be especially on a very large coil.....cannot exactly quote the weight as i have never weighed one but my large 20'' Jimmy Sierra coil coil cover weighs alot and i can only swing that setup using a GPX full harness and the amazing hipstick,but i can swing the Coiltek 14x9 mono coil all day. Thanks again for your input,will be using the 14x9 coil this coming weekend on a very old pasture site.
    1 point
  19. Hi Rick, I think you hit on an important item - physical capability. While depth is all fine and dandy, we are not talking double the depth or anything crazy like that. Going to a larger coil at best you usually just get that extra inch. That being the case I like a coil I can swing for 8 hours without killing myself. I personally really like the 14" x 9" form factor as a good compromise between depth, weight, and ground coverage. The 15" x 12" Commander mono was a very good performer back in the day but some of these new coil windings may have an edge that negates the size difference. Not having used the newest coils myself I can only suggest what I would do myself - a half day of comparative coil testing. I can't imagine there being much difference at all between the 12" round and the 14" x 9" as regards performance so it really just comes down to which coil you prefer to swing. My old 14" x 9" Nugget Finder helped me score a 6.5 ounce gold nugget so you can see why I might be fond of the coil! I had the old Nugget Finder 16" round super light mono coil at one point. The old housing design but that was a sweet coil both for being light and deep. Unfortunately it started getting flaky and had to be retired. 6.5 ounce gold nugget found by Steve with GPX 5000 & Nugget Finder 14" x 9" mono
    1 point
  20. gambler I’m sorry I haven’t responded to your post. I have all the coils for the Sport but one and that is the largest. The only coil I have yet to use is the 9.5 concentric. I do have it on my Sport now ready to give it a shot. All the other coils has proved their worth and I think you will find this to be true in time. At a later date I’ll give you my run down on the 9.5 concentric if it ever stop raining. Chuck
    1 point
  21. Click on image for larger version.... White's Goldmaster 24K Color Flyer White's Goldmaster 24K Information Page White's Goldmaster 24K & GMT Compared
    1 point
  22. Yes, covers a broad range of TID's, never seems to settle in a narrow range around the 26 of a typical dime no matter how well you center it and try different sweep angles. Seems to be when very close by to an obvious iron false where pinpointing can not hit the suspect target, always going to that falsing iron location. Probably a case where it is just barely seeing the signal as 2 targets one iron one non-ferrous.
    1 point
  23. The late Jim Stewart near Grays Reef Moliagul, with a 7 0z piece. Mid 90's
    1 point
  24. There is a lot of info coming through via audio in the Equinox, if a person chooses to utilize it. I personally believe using anything other than 50 tones takes away the nuances of the audio. You'll get a cleaner hit in the 2 or 5 tone options but you can't hear those nuances. Somehow I think Minelab has this machine being able to determine that an object is an alloy, and can report the differences in the metal alloys. I could be wrong, as I'm just guessing based on the signal I have gotten and what the object actually turned out being. I have no idea how many hours of use I have on the unit. I don't keep track of all that as it really doesn't matter. If I'm in a site where I'm going to dig everything non ferrous, I will go to 2 tone and have clearer sounds on targets. If I'm in trash and cherry picking, I'll be in 50 tone. I have found something though that has came in with the Nox update. My machine did not do this before with the old version. I had some items laid out on a rubber stall mat doing a video between the Nox and Kruzer. I happened to have the small coils on them and some pieces of flat iron, bottle caps, and a coin or two. The target this happened on was a US silver quarter laying flat. When I ran the coil over the quarter to show the difference in sounds....I didn't get a sound but maybe once out of 3 swings over the top of the quarter. Very odd...I had to look and make sure I hadn't somehow discriminated out the quarter range, and I hadn't.
    1 point
  25. Yep, crikey is making me tongue for another WA Mission. Fred if you`ve your ears on, tis time for Doug to have a "memory" WA trip as we are all getting on.
    1 point
  26. I also found some coins in the iron that I had a partial iron signal and ID 16,17 to 21,22 - but I decided to dig it after the first such digged coin - I'm more careful ...., I can find me more this signal from the coin ...- I know definitely need to feel more audio signal Equinox ...
    1 point
  27. You can't keep a conspiracy theorist down. The same guy who suspected Minelab was monitoring GPZs believed the moon landing was faked, and that no plane flew into the Pentagon, but was absolutely convinced that the story of Noah's Ark was totally factual. Very strange the way some peoples minds work.
    1 point
  28. Lots of news here and some good research. Is anyone reading these posts? https://stockhead.com.au/resources/pilbara-gold-nugget-story-sparks-into-life-as-minrex-gets-excellent-results/
    1 point
  29. 1 point
  30. The official state flag of Tennessee was adopted on April 17, 1905. This flag was designed by LeRoy Reeves of the Third Regiment of the Tennessee Infantry. The three white stars in the center symbolize the three different geographical regions of Tennessee: the Great Smoky Mountains (in eastern Tennessee), the highlands (in central Tennessee) and the lowlands (in western Tennessee, by the Mississippi River). The white circle binds them together. The blue stripe along the margin was added for distinction when the flag is hanging; with the stripe, not only the red shows while the flag is hanging.Click the following images for differnt sizes of Tennessee flag
    1 point
  31. The Tennessee state flag has three stars on it surrounded by a circle. Not sure what it is but it looks like our state flag logo.
    1 point
  32. 1 point
  33. I can give one reason, at least to my ear -- pure non-ferrous sound, in my experience, means a non-ferrous object is either close to the surface or far from ferrous objects. Iron, being the most common metallic element and being a very useful metal in terms of versatility, particularly strength, has been used for centuries in vast amounts. Virtually every site where a structure (building, fence, etc.) has been located is inundated with buried iron. Having said that, it seems that some here have a way of distinguishing between larger iron (which gives both high conductor signals and low conductor hints) and separate high conductor + nearby small iron. If that can be done then your recommendation can be implemented. Likely it depends upon the size of the objects and the separation distance, even with a trained ear.
    1 point
  34. Therein lies the problem with old rusty tin, be it from cans, or as the pioneers and miners loved to utilize it, for building roofing and siding. In some ghost towns and other related sites, this stuff is everywhere in a state of decay, and it tends to sound good on a detector, although I've noticed on the Multi Kruzer that it can (not always) have a rough fuzzy sound, even though it TIDs as a higher conductor. That said, why not just skip all those targets that don't have that pure non-ferrous sound? Good relics made of multiple metals can also mimic this sound. I hope the Equinox has the ability to provide audio and TID clues that can help decipher the good from the bad.
    1 point
  35. I haven’t posted of late, been a long Smokey and hot Summer in NorCal which keep me in controlled atmospheric conditions, lol. Now, since it’s cooling off somewhat, I made my first Rye Patch Trip of the season. This solo trip was perfect, only had to worry about myself and how long my cooler ice would last, only had two bags of ice! Arrived and set up camp and hit a Patch for a late afternoon swing to see if I could get the skunk off my back. Skunk was off with a dink nugget to the poke and a good nights sleep with the moon blazing! Well to make a 2 1/2 day hunt short, I had fun and met a few other Prospectors enjoying our hobby as well. It’s a nice change of scenery from the woods/manzanita of NorCal to open plains of the desert. As many of you know Rye Patch isn’t what it use to be...or is it! Well, I ran out of beer and steam in my engine and headed home, knowing I left gold for the next trip(s)...until the next hunt! Big one was 3.53 dwts for a total of a little over 9 dwts. LuckyLundy
    1 point
  36. Equinox versus Gold Monster is pretty simple. Both machines are extremely capable at finding gold. Lots of prospectors want a nugget machine and nothing more. The Gold Monster is single minded and that's a good thing. The Equinox is for those who want a multipurpose machine with excellent nugget capability. Currently Equinox runs with the best beach hunting detectors AND the best VLF nugget machines - a feat unheard of before now. The Gold Monster is far easier to master. The Equinox on the other hand has some magic settings that I think will allow it to run in some ground where the Monster will struggle simply because it lacks the controls entirely. And while the machines are neck and neck in all metal mode I far prefer the Equinox if I have to use any discrimination. I think Park 2 and Field 2 are equally good at getting the gold, but I am now recommending Park 2 as a starting point simply because the defaults are closer to where you need to be. Field 2 has a modified disc scheme that both notches out target id numbers 1 and 2 but which also has them set up to read as low tone ferrous. If using Field 2 as a base setting it is critical this is reversed before nugget detecting. With Park 2 you have less chance of getting caught accidently rejecting gold. Also, the Recovery Speed setting is already at 6, my favorite, where Field 2 starts out at 7. As all nugget hunters know, any discrimination can pay a price in missed good targets. If you get into a trash pit however you have to just do the best you can do. My Tips On Nugget Detecting With The Minelab Equinox The areas in red below are my concerns as regards Field 2 (click for larger version): Equinox Park 2 vs Field 2
    1 point
  37. A good friend of mine who has trouble getting around these days after a bad car accident showed me a bunch of Cellar holes that he knows of. He reminded me of some of the important things that are overlooked or taken for granted, like the simple Act of being able to walk through the woods in search of a Cellar hole. Luckily there were many right next to the road and even brought some hot dogs and buns which we cooked on a fire next to the old home site.
    1 point
  38. Went for an afternoon hunt yesterday to an area that had several music festivals over the years. I didn't expect to find any silver coins, and I didn't. A relatively small area produced a good number of coins, pull tabs and other miscellaneous junk along with a Swiss Army knife that was in three pieces. The handles had become separated from the knife. After getting home and inspecting my finds,I discovered the knife handles are 925 sterling with an engraved name on one of them.I will try to contact that person. A very expensive little knife
    1 point
  39. I wish the Equinox were magic on flat steel but it’s not - just witness the bottle cap complaints. Flat steel will generally ring up in the “teens” but the larger the piece is, the higher it can read. Forget all this more depth stuff. What I want is a detector that can simply and accurately tell ferrous from non-ferrous. Leave off virtually all controls and adjustments, just low tone ferrous and higher tone anything else. You would think that getting clean ferrous versus non-ferrous discrimination would be as basic as it gets, but anyone that hunts low conductors in iron knows how complex the problem is. And just because a machine does not false on ferrous does not mean all is well. It can’t be rejecting all ferrous if it comes at the cost of a lot of missed non-ferrous, but that is precisely what the machines that reject nearly all ferrous at all times are doing. It is a real quandary because I do want a machine that does a good job rejecting ferrous, but at the same time I would have a hard time trusting a detector that is extremely aggressive at rejecting ferrous. A Sovereign or Excalibur will reject most ferrous, but those machines also tend to get very blind in dense ferrous. People tend to want to deny that i.e. “I dig non-ferrous out of nail pits with MY Sovereign!” but it is just a fact of BBS and FBS to a lesser degree. I am convinced Equinox manages to pull some great targets simply because it does have you digging more ferrous also. Making Equinox kill ferrous just might also remove the magic - in fact I am betting on it. That’s why I generally leave Iron Bias at zero. But I still hate that flat steel! Fisher F75 Ferrous Tone Quirk New version software is working fine for me.
    1 point
  40. I found this great badge in an old barn
    1 point
  41. Hey everyone, I get out on Sundays. Some half days and some full days. Half days you don't get much except a lot of clad, and full days you will work your butt off literally, for a few worth mentioning finds. You really gotta work these parks. You have to find areas where there aren't crowds so driving around finding that right spot takes time from your day. Leaving the house at 6am or earlier is the norm for me. I'm still on a buffalo/V nickel quest and averaging 20 -30 nickels per hunt. Got a buffalo this past Sunday, 2 silver dimes and a few wheats. I come home dirty/sweaty due to the heat but I'm liking every minute of it. I hope everyone had a great weekend hunt.
    1 point
  42. I might not have noticed much difference either if I weren't preparing for a seeded hunt. I wanted to use the Equinox. But out of two handfuls of machines it seemed to do the worst with tilted coins, which can occur quite often during planting. It had trouble modulating them. It began to make sense to me when research suggested it had an issue with coins on edge and some rings. Then the update came out shortly before the hunt. I plugged in and updated without blinking when I saw a fix for that very issue. I brought it out and tested it and it was spot on after that. I was happy I could bring it to my hunt. This area lately is Deus and Whites Country. There wasn't the craze for the Equinox here in this part of NY that I saw sweeping the rest of the world, so I wanted to show it off and be different. In any case there did end up being a couple of other Equinoxes and we drove each other's machines nuts until we noise cancelled, but we all did very good. For my first seeded hunt ever, and as small an event as it was 65-70 people, I came home with literally a handful of silver and a token that won me a new pair of headphones, a Minelab hat and new issue of Eastern and Western Treasure. That update came at the right time and it seems to have done the machine good.
    1 point
  43. I can't tell any difference one way or the other so I will leave the newest one on there.
    1 point
  44. I’ve been hitting an old youth center from 1929 the last few weekends. Using the equinox working a small corner I finally found some keepers. The Indian head was a solid 19/20... thinking I had another Zincolin.. dang 4 inches down out she popped! the silver Washington 1954 was 6 inches down near some iron, but gave a nice consistent high tone. happy Hunting!
    1 point
  45. Nothing unusual here, but silver has been hunted for years here Norm
    1 point
  46. Is the new throw away design of the Equinox the new marketing model? Do you think more manufacturers will move to this model for their waterproof designs? If the term 'throw away' troubles you, replace the phrase with "planned obsolescence". It is interesting to think why a company would even think they could get away with something like that. But the market has shown that for Minelab, they can pretty much do what ever they want as people are willing to pay the premium price for their tech. With 'planned obsolescence" they don't need to obsolete it with technological advances, they can force the obsolescence with a non-repairable design. and kill the used market at the same time. HH Mike
    1 point
  47. Here is a little cleanup sluice I put together to help clean up the sluice cons...... And yes that's gold in those little riffles....
    1 point
  48. That piece is drop-dead gorgeous! My, what a day that must have been. Incredible. All the best, and I'm with you Steve, my gold lives in the bank too for the same reasons, Lanny
    1 point
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